By John Gardner
The Surveyor

The Berthoud High School boys golf team is playing solid golf halfway through the season. And they’re not relaxing just yet.

“The boys are really determined and focused and that is fantastic,” said head coach Mike King.

The boys played their best round of the season at Highland Meadows Golf Course in Windsor on Aug. 21; none of the boys shot over an 89. The team’s high score of 89 was shot by Tory Johnson while the team’s low score of the day was shot by junior Shawn Solem who carded a 68. That round happens to be Solem’s lowest career competitive round. He also carded his first eagle in a competitive round as well on the 518-yard, par 5, 15^th hole.

That round pleased King, immensely.

“That was a really good day for us,” King said.

The Spartans finished second behind an extremely solid Windsor team, for the third time this season. But the Spartans were unable to keep the momentum going and stumbled a little at the Aug. 25 league match at Saddleback Golf Course in Frederick, finishing in sixth place. The low score of the day was Solem’s 77. According to King, the whole day was a bit off.

“We let our course management get away a little bit that day,” King said. “We didn’t make good decisions on some holes.”

Despite the tough round, King said it reinvigorated the team to finish the season strong.

“The boys have a new sense of urgency in their practice,” King said. “It may have been a good thing that we stumbled a bit; we had a good practice round [Wednesday].”

Now the Spartans find themselves in a three-way tie for second place in conference play, along with Holy Family and Sterling. The boys still have a chance to finish second in the conference as long as they can hang tough with conference rival, and current Tri-Valley Conference leader, Windsor.

The Spartans have a non-conference match on Sept. 3 at the Walt Clark Invitational at the Olde Course in Loveland. After that, they have one more league match, the Holy Family Invitational at the Broadlands Golf Course in Broomfield on Sept. 9.

Being in a three-way tie for second place is a great place for the team to be, according to King.

“It’s a lot of fun,” he said. “At this point in the season we’re really happy where we’re at, but we still have a lot of golf to play.”

Results

Aug. 21: at Roosevelt (League match at Highland Meadows GC)
Individual top five finishers: Brett Krantz (Windsor) 64, Shawn Solem (Berthoud) 68, Trey Lambrecht (Sterling) 70, Ryan Lococo (Windsor) 72, Harrison Wagner (Erie) 77.
Other Berthoud scores: Joshua Schumacher – 82, Jack Hummel – 83, Evan Poll – 87, Tory Johnson – 89.
Team Scores: Windsor – 205, Berthoud – 233, Sterling – 235, Holy Family – 241, Erie – 249, Roosevelt – 258, Skyline – 258, Frederick – 294.

Aug. 25: at Frederick (League match at Saddle Back GC)
Individual top five finishers: Brett Krantz (Windsor) 70, Ryan Lococo (Windsor) 76, Shawn Solem (Berthoud) 77, Jack Marty (Holy Family) 79, Trey Lambrecht (Sterling) 79.
Other Berthoud scores: Jack Hummel – 92, Joshua Schumacher – 94, Evan Poll – 97, Dennis Williams – 101.
Team scores: Windsor – 228, Sterling – 246, Holy Family – 259, Roosevelt – 260, Erie – 261, Berthoud – 263, Skyline – 264, Frederick – 291.

Aug. 27: JV at Horizon Invitational (Riverdale Knolls GC)
Berthoud scores: John Erickson – 85, Dennis Williams – 96, Braden Hull – 96, Hunter Pearce – 91.